


The Beautiful and New Things I'm Learning About You

by ThePineScentedAir



Series: Say You Will [7]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Boy Kisses, Five Plus One, Flashbacks, Humor, Idiots in Love, M/M, Magnus POV, Magnus and Isabelle gossip session, Magnus being dramatic, Malec
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-24
Updated: 2017-01-24
Packaged: 2018-09-19 14:41:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9445922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThePineScentedAir/pseuds/ThePineScentedAir
Summary: “But on the topic of Alec living here…how’s life with my big brother?”Magnus smiles and takes a sip of his drink. “Having Alexander here is, well, amazing.” He pauses and Isabelle leans in, sensing a qualifying sentence coming up. “Well, there are a few things that have been surprising about living together but for the most part life with Alexander is amazing.”“What exactly is surprising about living with Alec?”------Or, the five things Magnus finds surprising about living with Alec (complete with flashbacks) and the one thing that didn't surprise him in the slightest.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my take on the classic five plus one template. It's sort of told as a narrative with interspersed flashbacks of moments between Alec and Magnus. Part of a series but can be read as a standalone (might make sense with more background though). 
> 
> All mistakes are my own. Title from "Getting to Know You" from the musical The King and I. Let me know what you think and if you see something I can improve upon! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy part seven of Say You Will.

Isabelle knocks on the door to Alec and Magnus’s apartment and smiles brightly when Magnus opens it. “Hello, Isabelle!” Magnus’s voice booms. He steps back to allow her inside the apartment and locks the door behind them. “Your usual drink?” he asks as he walks over to the bar.

“Yes please,” she replies. While Magnus sets to work on her cocktail Isabelle discards her coat on a stool near the front door and walks over to take a seat on the couch. “How have you been this week, Magnus?” She loves these gossip sessions they began scheduling every week or so since Alec moved out of the Institute officially. It gives her time to get to know Magnus while also hearing all the latest nuances of her brother’s relationship.

“Oh, quite well. Alexander and I have been busy working on the wards at the Institute and I’ve been scheduling meetings with the other warlocks in town.” He hands her a glass filled with bright purple liquid. “How are you, my dear?”

“Wonderful. Things are so much less stressful at the Institute now that Alec’s living with you and getting laid on a regular basis.” She grins devilishly and winks. Magnus doesn’t have the heart to tell her they’d been intimate long before she was even aware. “But on the topic of Alec living here…how’s life with my big brother?”

Magnus smiles and takes a sip of his drink. “Having Alexander here is, well, amazing.” He pauses and Isabelle leans in, sensing a qualifying sentence coming up. “Well, there are a few things that have been _surprising_ about living together but for the most part life with Alexander is amazing.”

“What exactly is surprising about living with Alec?”

Magnus tilts his head and contemplates what to tell her. “Well, for instance, I didn’t know Alexander possessed any, hm, _musical_ talent? Especially when relaxed in the shower…” His voice trails off as he thinks of the first time it caught him off guard.

\----

“Magnus,” Alec grumbles lowly. Magnus doesn’t respond so Alec tries again. “Magnus.” Alec pauses and then hisses, “ _Magnus Bane_.” Alec pushes at Magnus’s shoulder in a failed attempt to get him to move. He groans but doesn’t respond (he’s quite comfortable sprawled out on top of his boyfriend and quite limp from _riding his boyfriend into the mattress_ thank you very much. He thinks he’s earned the right to pass out after the mutually satisfying orgasms).

Alec huffs and pushes at his shoulder again. “Get up I need to take a shower.” Magnus groans again and shakes his head. “You need to move for that to happen.”

He props his head up on Alec’s chest and glares down his nose at his boyfriend, dropping the glamour on his eyes. Alec thinks he looks like a very pissed off cat. “There will be no moving, Alexander,” he grumbles.

Alec quirks an eyebrow. “Is that a challenge?” Magnus narrows his eyes at him but Alec simply shifts his hips and pushes Magnus onto the sheets. Before he can do anything in retaliation, Alec gets up and hurries to the bathroom. “Snooze you lose!” he calls out as he turns on the light.

Magnus curls up in the bed, shifting so his head is on Alec’s pillow, and tries to drift off, but just as he’s about to nod off he hears something coming from the bathroom. The shower is running and he can tell from the staccato and offbeat rhythm of water hitting the tile that Alec is under the spray. But over that noise there is an unholy sound of a human voice marring a perfectly good Adele song. He opens his eyes and turns his head to the bathroom (which he can see into because Alec didn’t bother shutting the door).

Magnus has to keep from laughing out loud because he can see perfectly well that Alec has his hand in a fist in front of his mouth like he’s holding a microphone. And he’s belting out lyrics from the most recent Adele song horribly off key and off pitch. Honestly, it’s a miracle Magnus can even tell what song it is, the rendition is that bad. But, despite the physical pain it causes him to listen to Alec singing in the shower, he can’t help but smile and fall even more in love with him.

He climbs out of bed and walks to the bathroom, pulling the shower door open and joining his boyfriend. “Well look who’s up!” Alec breaks from his song to comment.

Eyes shining and lips parted in a huge smile, Magnus steps under the spray to wrap his arms around Alec’s waist. “I didn’t know you liked to sing in the shower.” He watches greedily as Alec’s cheeks flush with color and he looks away, hand over his eyes in embarrassment. Magnus waits for him to recover.

“I—well, I, um.” Alec breaks off and runs his fingers through his hair. “You heard that?” he settles on.

Magnus chuckles. “My dear, I think half of Brooklyn heard you.” He leans in to press a quick kiss to Alec’s jaw. “No need to be embarrassed, Alexander.”

“I don’t even realize I’m doing it sometimes,” Alec offers as if in apology. “It just comes out. When we were growing up, Izzy used to make fun of me because of how bad I am.”

“I will admit it was quite a shock. But it’s something new that I’m learning about my favorite Shadowhunter.” He grins. “It’s just another thing about you that I get that others don’t.”

Alec leans down to kiss him. It starts off slow and chaste, Alec simply thanking Magnus for his outright acceptance and lack of teasing, perhaps. But the kiss quickly changes into biting and pressure and makes Alec pull back to ask, “Are you still tired?” with heat in his eyes.

Magnus nips at Alec’s bottom lip before throwing his words from earlier back at him. “Is that a challenge?”

\----

Isabelle laughs. “He’s completely tone-deaf, right? But he thinks he can sing and it’s the most adorable thing to hear when I walked past his room growing up. It’s, like, the one time he felt completely at ease and himself.” She takes a sip of her cocktail and nods. “I’m sure you were the supportive and loving boyfriend that you are.”

Magnus smiles back. “I don’t have a problem with it, it’s just that I didn’t expect it from him! Especially not since he’s usually just so quiet.”

“Is that the second surprising thing?”

“No, the second surprising thing is that your brother is an asshole who enjoys sneaking up on me and scaring me.” Magnus’s usual elevated language drops for a second and Isabelle laughs harder. “I am going to put a bell on that boy’s ankle, mark my words.”

\---

Magnus is sitting in the living room, minding his own business, when Alec walks through the door. He doesn’t hear the Shadowhunter walk in, doesn’t even look up from the treaty he’s reading over for the thirtieth time.

He senses Alec’s presence a second before the man leans down and whispers, “Hi Magnus” into his ear.

He nearly jumps ten feet into the air. His magic lashes out to protect him, curling around Alec’s ankle and pulling his feet out from under him. Alec’s back thumps into the floor and he looks up at Magnus with mirth in his eyes and a smile on his lips. Magnus’s heart is beating a mile a minute and he glares down at Alec over the back of the sofa. He flashes his true eyes. “I’m getting you a fucking bell, Alexander,” Magnus grumbles. “This is the _third time this week_.”

He’s used to noise and sound when people walk into rooms. Not the silence of trained Shadowhunters who can easily sneak up on him. Alec looks up at him from the same position on the floor and winks. “It’s too easy to sneak up on you. We need to work on your training.”

He narrows his eyes at Alec. “If you do it again, Alexander, you’ll be sleeping on the couch.”

\---

He ends up telling Isabelle the story and she tries to hide her grin behind her glass. “Did he do it again?” she asks, attempting a casual tone and landing just shy of smug because she knows the answer.

“I made him sleep on the couch for a solid week and a half. Isabelle, I swear to you that boy is a menace.” But there’s no real heat to his words and they both start to laugh. “Doesn’t he ever scare you?”

Isabelle shakes her head and drains her glass. “He sneaks up on Clary, though. I swear, the last time he did it she almost punched him in the jaw. I thought Jace was going to have to hold her back.”

“I wouldn’t blame her.” He snaps his fingers and refills Isabelle’s glass.

“Ok, Magnus, but what else? There have to be more _surprising_ things about Alec.” She waggles her eyebrows and he knows she’s fishing for gossip about their sex life. But he promised Alec that he wouldn’t talk about it (at least not sober).

“I’m going to need something a lot stronger if we’re working up to what I think you’re hinting at.” He drains his glass and refills it two-thirds of the way full of scotch with a snap of his fingers. His use of magic makes him think of his next point and he brandishes the glass at her. “But this! This is the kind of thing that Alexander insists upon doing the mundane way. He doesn’t want me using my magic on things we can do ourselves, like the dishes or cleaning.”

“Cleaning?”

Magnus throws his head back dramatically and waves his free hand. “He made me clean my toilet _with a brush_.”

\----

“My love, there is no way I am touching that with a ten foot pole.” Magnus’s nose is turned up at the toilet brush and he’s holding his palm out like that will stop Alec from shoving the brush into his hand.

“It’s spring cleaning, Magnus. Izzy is taking command of the Institute today so that I can spend the day here which means you’re helping me.” He’s standing there, holding the toilet brush out to Magnus and waiting for him to take it. _He’s waiting in vain,_ Magnus thinks.

“That is what magic is for, Alexander. I just snap my fingers and then we spend the whole day finding new ways to make you come.” He leers at Alec and steps closer. “I seem to recall promising to tie you down and fuck you senseless the next chance we get.”

Alec covers Magnus’s face with his free hand and pushes him back. “Imagine how much better that orgasm is going to feel after you’ve put some hard work into cleaning your apartment?” He drops his hand and shoves the brush at Magnus again. “The sooner you get to cleaning the sooner we can get to other things.”

Magnus huffs but finally takes the toilet brush. “You’re a slave driver, Alexander,” he calls as Alec retreats to the kitchen to finish cleaning the counters.

“When you’re done don’t forget to scrub the shower and your tub!” Alec calls back. Magnus groans loudly.

\---

“Magnus, don’t be so dramatic. I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” Isabelle chastises.

“Isabelle, I haven’t cleaned something myself in thirty years. Your brother waltzes into my life and suddenly has me doing manual labor I never thought I would do again.”

“Sounds like he has a way of getting you to do things.”

“ _Surprisingly_ ,” he emphasizes the word and smirks, “yes, he does seem to have that effect on me. He could ask me to trust him and jump out of a plane with him tomorrow without a parachute and I would do it. I would do anything for him.”

Isabelle could follow that sentiment and lead the conversation to other things (like marriage and when Magnus is going to ask Alec because it’s been a year since they’ve been dating and months since they moved in together and it’s something they should have started thinking about because come _on_ they’re perfect together and they make each other happy. A shax demon could see that they’re meant to be together). But she chooses instead to ruin the moment. “Even clean your own toilet?”

Magnus sighs. “Even clean my own toilet.” He drains half his glass and starts to feel the buzz from the alcohol. “Did you know your brother doesn’t like to sleep?”

Isabelle levels Magnus with a straight stare. “The boy only sleeps when he’s been incapacitated by demons. You’ve seen his runes. He’s got, like, five stamina runes drawn on his body.”

Magnus shakes his head. “I know but I didn’t expect him to actually have a hard time falling asleep. Even after the mutually satisfying orgasms when we’re cuddling he’s usually the last to pass out.” He doesn’t miss the way Isabelle’s eyes light up at the mention of sex. “He wakes up a few times each night, too. I don’t think he realizes that it wakes me up.”

Isabelle’s eyes soften. “He’s also been through a lot, Magnus. We’re trained from a young age to be prepared for anything, even when we’re asleep. I can’t tell you the last time I slept a full eight hours without waking up.”

Magnus downs his drink. “Well, there was a time recently when he slept through the night.” His voice trails off and the tone has her leaning in expectantly. “Isabelle, you realize Alexander is going to disown me the second he learns about the story I’m about to tell you.”

She waves him off. “He’s not going to disown you. He loves you…you just may have to make it up to him.”

Magnus closes his eyes and rubs his thumb against the glass, considering. “Well, I suppose since this incorporates the fourth and fifth surprising thing I’ve learned about Alexander it will be alright.” He sets the glass down and Isabelle mirrors him. “Now, I knew Alexander was somewhat sexually repressed and never experimented with anyone before and as such could be seen as innocent and ignorant with regards to sins of the flesh.” The more he drinks, the longer-winded Magnus becomes. “I supposed I just didn’t expect Alexander to enjoy such, dare I say, kinky sexual exploits.”

Isabelle leans back and pumps her fist in the air. “Yes! I knew my big brother wasn’t so innocent. Tell me everything.”

“Well, it started shortly before we moved in and long before Alexander made me _clean my own toilet_.”

“You’re still stuck on that?”

“I will forever be stuck on that.”

“Well get over it and get to the good parts, Magnus.”

“Yes, well, alright. If you insist.”

\----

“Hey, Magnus.”

Magnus looks up from his position on the couch and the book he’s reading to see Alec standing in the doorway to their bedroom. “Yes, Angel?”

“So there’s something that I’ve been thinking about lately and it’s started to affect my concentration at the Institute. So I thought it’s something I should talk to you about.”

Magnus frowns and sets the book aside. “Come here, Alexander.” He’s starting to worry.

Alec must see it on his face because he walks over and sits down on the couch facing Magnus. “It’s not what you’re thinking. It’s nothing bad.” He seems to reconsider and adds. “Well, I don’t think it’s anything bad. It depends on how it could change your perception of me.”

Magnus takes Alec’s hand. “Perhaps it would be better to just come out with it, then?”

Alec nods. “There’s a few things I want to try with you. In bed.”

Magnus perks up. “What kind of things?” He was starting to worry about what Alec wanted to talk to him about. Alec was right: a discussion about sex was the last thing Magnus pictured when he sat down.

“Well, I wanted to try, um, bondage? You tying me down…” he trails off and his eyes get a faraway look when he smiles. “Me tying you down.” Something about his expression makes Magnus think he’s been fantasizing about the latter recently. “There’s also this, um, scenario? I don’t really know what to call it. But there’s this thing that I keep playing in my head and imagining doing with you and it gets me kind of—“

“Hot?” Magnus finishes for him. Alec nods. Magnus grins at his boyfriend, who is sitting next to him on the couch blushing a delightful shade of pink and looking sheepish and hopeful, and climbs onto his lap. He wraps his arms around Alec’s neck and leans in to whisper in Alec’s ear, “What happens in this scenario?”

Alec’s hands automatically go to Magnus’s hips. “W-well it starts when you get home,” Alec stutters because Magnus is doing extremely distracting things with his lips on Alec’s neck. “I come over to you and we’re kissing. And then I get on my knees for you.”

Magnus rolls his hips down against Alec’s. “You would look so good on your knees in front of me, Alexander,” he says when he pulls back, their eyes meeting.

“I take your pants off and go down on you,” Alec continues as if Magnus’s gaze pulls the words out of him. “In the scenario, I mean.” Magnus nods and he gasps as their hips connect again. “You give me instructions, too. You tell me to move a certain way and how to touch you and you—you call me a good boy.”

Magnus traces a finger down Alec’s neck as they rut against each other. “Do you want me to call you a good boy, Alexander?” He keeps his voice as level and unaffected as possible. Alec must like that because he responds quickly.

“ _Yes_ ,” he whispers.

\---

“Hold on a second,” Isabelle interrupts. “You’re telling me my brother wants to be tied down and told what to do and that he has a praise kink? This is all still sounding very vanilla to me.”

Magnus glares at her for interrupting the story. “What did you expect, Isabelle? Whips and chains? Your brother spends every day at the Institute working a thankless job, getting chastised for his control on the Shadowhunters there and the decision he makes. I can hardly fault him for wanting some positive reassurance when he’s at his most vulnerable and to give up control for a little while. What?” He snaps at her because her head is tilted to the side and she’s leveling him with a strange expression (and also a little because he doesn’t like to be interrupted when telling a story. He was just getting to the _good parts_ too and to the point he was making that after opening up to Magnus Alec seemed to finally be able to relax. They both slept a full, uninterrupted eight hours that night).

“I’m just glad Alec has found someone who’s so protective of him. Even when talking about his sex life and things that probably shouldn’t be brought up to other people.” She smiles. “I guess I can stop worrying about my big brother because he’s found someone who is amazing to him despite all of his drawbacks as a roommate.”

Magnus huffs. “I didn’t say it was all bad.”

“Well then, what is the best part about living with Alec?”

Magnus pauses to think about the question. “Maybe—other than the great sex—I think the best part about living with Alexander is that I get to wake up to my best friend every morning. I think the least surprising thing about living with him is how great we work together.”

“Teamwork? Seriously?”

“I am over three centuries old, Isabelle. In that time, I have lived with many people who I thought I adored and out of everyone, Alexander is the best one. It just seems to me that we are in synch. We both know what the other needs in the moment and, even though we bicker on occasion, we don’t outright fight about anything. We just seem to work on all levels.”

“Ok. So, we’re taught that soul mates don’t exist, right? Shadowhunters marry for politics and advancement and not for love. But Alec has always believed in soul mates. And—“

At that moment, the front door opens and Alec walks into the apartment. He takes one look at Isabelle and Magnus sitting on the couch and narrows his eyes suspiciously. “Alec believes you’re his soul mate,” Isabelle hisses at Magnus quietly. He looks at her with wide eyes and then back to Alec.

“Hello, Izzy, Magnus. What are you two doing?” Alec asks.

Magnus stands and walks around the couch smiling brightly. “Isabelle and I were having our regular chat since you were working on paperwork at the Institute.” He moves to stand in front of Alec. “I didn’t know you think I’m your soul mate.” He beams.

Alec looks past his shoulder to glare at Isabelle. “That is the _last time_ I tell you anything.”

Isabelle stands from the couch, a mischievous smile on her face. “That’s great and all, Alec, but we both know you’ll continue to tell me everything. Just like Magnus will continue to tell me all about how kinky you are in bed.”

Magnus grabs for her as she rushes past them cackling but his hand closes on thin air. No sooner has the door shut behind her then Alec turns his glare at Magnus. “ _You told her_?”

Magnus smiles sheepishly up at Alec. “I’m drunk and, to be fair, I didn’t even get to the good part of the story?”

Alec’s expression changes and he kisses Magnus softly. “That’s ok, Magnus.” He pauses, letting Magnus think he’s off the hook, before continuing. “You can make it up to me tomorrow. Right after you sleep on the couch.” He walks past Magnus and shuts their bedroom door with a definitive click.

Magnus stands where Alec left him for a while, contemplating the point he’s at. He knows he never should have told Isabelle intimate details of his physical relationship with Alec. But on the other hand, he knows Alec isn’t _really_ mad at him. He’s upset, sure, but if he was actually mad he wouldn’t go to bed without talking it through with Magnus (that’s number one of seven mutually agreed upon house rules).

So Magnus will take the punishment and sleep on the couch knowing full well that as soon as the sun is up he can make it up to Alexander. And boy, does he have an idea on how to make it up to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Come say hi on [tumblr](http://thepinescentedair.tumblr.com/)


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